What's a film Ident?

The Purpose & Nature of Ident Design

In the ‘Collins English Dictionary’ an ident is defined as “a short visual image employed between television programmes that works as a logo to locate the viewer to the channel”. In TV, this basically means that idents are put in place to visually engage the viewer whilst informing them of upcoming shows, create for itself a visual identity and in a way reminds the viewer of the channel they are watching, between, before or after programmes.
Ident’s can come in many different forms. They could be (in rare cases) a fully computerized static image or (usually) a fully computerized moving image. They can consist of footage caught on camera or they can combine computerized effects and images with footage. One example of this being the BBC1 ‘Capes’ Ident used in 2008.

 

In films however, idents are used to make viewers of a specific movie form a subliminal correlation between a company and a franchise. Take for example, Harry Potter. Warner Brothers’ most prominent source of income now comes from the Harry Potter franchise and unlike other films whose internationally recognizable production company idents are shown before the main feature, in Harry Potter films, Warner Brothers shape their ident around the opening cinematic. )